Milling Handrail
#11
I am planning some remodel on the stairs in my home and have bottomed out on everything except the handrail. I am having a hard time finding a ready made handrail that matches what I have envisioned for the staircase. Has anyone attempted to mill their own handrail and have some tips to offer. I believe I have the tools necessary in my shop and will need to purchase some router bits for the profiles.

I am looking for something similar to this only wider and probably a little more square features at the bottom. I am looking for an arts and crafts look. Handrail will also need to be plowed in the bottom to accept balusters.
[Image: 6701-1.png]

Has anyone here milled their own handrail and have any suggestions or tips? Working out the steps in my head it would seem I would cut the two tapers on the top first probably at the table saw. Then mill the plow in the bottom. Lastly would be routing the side profiles at the router table. Given the top heavy nature of the profile I was thinking I may need to have a piece attached to the bottom to provide stability both on the router table and against the fence but am not sure about this.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
  George
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#12
Check the building codes in your area. They have been changed in most areas to greatly reduce the allowable width. Easier to hang onto thatway. Probably the reason you cannot find something premade. A lot of the handrails I have installed over the years are now not allowed. Really limits the look you are able to achieve. Your own home so do what you want. It probably would not be listed by a home inspector for resale but would be if you need a building inspection for what you are doing. Better pre warned than getting blind sided later.
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#13
(12-12-2019, 03:23 PM)Turner52 Wrote: Check the building codes in your area. They have been changed in most areas to greatly reduce the allowable width. Easier to hang onto thatway. Probably the reason you cannot find something premade. A lot of the handrails I have installed over the years are now not allowed. Really limits the look you are able to achieve. Your own home so do what you want. It probably would not be listed by a home inspector for resale but would be if you need a building inspection for what you are doing. Better pre warned than getting blind sided later.

Thanks for that reminder. I looked at the codes for riser heights, tread depth and baluster spacing but did not bother to look at anything regarding the handrail width. I guess I did not think of it being an issue. I do not need a permit for the work but do plan to sell in the future.

Thanks,
   George
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#14
I built some privacy/sound control walls for my church orchestra.  The rail on top of the wall was 5.75" wide yet similar to your drawing; the top 1.75" was flat.  I did the work on the table saw and router table.
"I tried being reasonable..........I didn't like it." Clint Eastwood
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#15
Thats a standard made rail pattern, slight change on the bottom from a different supplier most likely.

https://stairpartsconnect.com/products/l.../lj-6701p/

I've made lots of railing, but don't have the cutters for that profile. I use a molding machine.
Steve

Missouri






 
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
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#16
I have milled handrails very similar to what you want to do, and of about the same dimensions.  And the comment about adhering to building codes is spot on.  Handrails on a balcony are not required to be "graspable", but those on a stairway are, and there are very specific dimensions required to meet the code.  You still have signficant design freedom, however.  Note the handrails in this photo, very similar to what you want to do.  

[Image: ceE7oDAYA6GG-p5ichR-SNCbBvxMD9OSUzWCuggp...35-h626-no]

The curved and straight ones on the balcony have a crowned top and straight sides.  The stairway one, however, has the same crowned top but the sides are milled to meet the code requirement of being "graspable".  

I used two router bits from Grizzly to make the handrails.  I used a handheld router, freehand.  There's no way you can handle long sections of handrail across a router table, especially the ones I had that had a compound curve.  But even the one stairway one is 16' long, so you see my point.  To keep the router stable I attached the base to a wider sub base of 1/2" plywood and screwed a block of wood the same height as the handrail on one side.  The other side rode on top of the handrail.  I also used a climb cut to make the cuts in order to eliminate the possibility of tearout.  Work slowly, light cuts until the bearing rides on the handrail, and then one pass back the other way.  

John
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#17
(12-13-2019, 10:20 AM)jteneyck Wrote: I have milled handrails very similar to what you want to do, and of about the same dimensions.  And the comment about adhering to building codes is spot on.  Handrails on a balcony are not required to be "graspable", but those on a stairway are, and there are very specific dimensions required to meet the code.  You still have signficant design freedom, however.  Note the handrails in this photo, very similar to what you want to do.  

[Image: ceE7oDAYA6GG-p5ichR-SNCbBvxMD9OSUzWCuggp...35-h626-no]

The curved and straight ones on the balcony have a crowned top and straight sides.  The stairway one, however, has the same crowned top but the sides are milled to meet the code requirement of being "graspable".  

I used two router bits from Grizzly to make the handrails.  I used a handheld router, freehand.  There's no way you can handle long sections of handrail across a router table, especially the ones I had that had a compound curve.  But even the one stairway one is 16' long, so you see my point.  To keep the router stable I attached the base to a wider sub base of 1/2" plywood and screwed a block of wood the same height as the handrail on one side.  The other side rode on top of the handrail.  I also used a climb cut to make the cuts in order to eliminate the possibility of tearout.  Work slowly, light cuts until the bearing rides on the handrail, and then one pass back the other way.  

John

John,
 Thanks, that it pretty much what I am looking to do. I will have 2 stair rails which are ~6ft long and 2 balcony rails, 1 ~4ft and 1 ~8ft. So no real long lengths here. I did some more research regarding the stair rail and the comment by Turner52 was spot on. 2-3/4" is the widest a handrail can be by code. I had not thought about making the balcony rails wider so thanks for that tip. Would you be able to share some more detail regarding your build? I am interested in the bits you used and dimensions of the rails. Are those standard 1-1/4" balusters or were they custom milled?
Thanks again for your post and picture this is a great help.

George
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#18
(12-13-2019, 01:27 PM)gtrgeo Wrote: John,
 Thanks, that it pretty much what I am looking to do. I will have 2 stair rails which are ~6ft long and 2 balcony rails, 1 ~4ft and 1 ~8ft. So no real long lengths here. I did some more research regarding the stair rail and the comment by Turner52 was spot on. 2-3/4" is the widest a handrail can be by code. I had not thought about making the balcony rails wider so thanks for that tip. Would you be able to share some more detail regarding your build? I am interested in the bits you used and dimensions of the rails. Are those standard 1-1/4" balusters or were they custom milled?
Thanks again for your post and picture this is a great help.

George

George, all the railings I made were 2-1/2" wide.  The tops of both the flat sided balcony railings and the stair railings were milled with one of Grizzly's handrail router bits, maybe C1535 but I'm not sure.  I'm not home at the moment and can't check.  I'm pretty sure the bit I used on the side of the stair railings was C1584.  It gave me the required 5/16" deep pocket required by code; the one I wanted to use, C1536, does not.  

Nothing about the balustrade was stock.  It was designed by the architects who designed this A&C style house I was working in.  They were a Canadian company and maybe their codes are different up there because the stairway handrails were shown to be the same straight sided ones as on the balcony.  I saved both myself and the owner a lot of grief by getting a copy of the codes which clearly show otherwise.  I made a sample rail and gave it to the owner and made sure he got approval by the local building inspector before I built the railings.  

To answer you specific question the balusters are 1-1/2" square IIRC, and there were quite a few of them.  

Sorry, indulge me for bragging with this photo:

[Image: jxUU_2-WIgWZ_3SVV8Z-96QiCV2aX9JriyLeqRI_...00-h600-no]

This balustrade spans around 20 ft at the edge of the balcony and forms quite a sine wave, and sort of mimics the eyebrow window you see in the background and another across the great room.  The handrails were laminated from 10, 1/4" pieces of wood clamped against forms I made.  Same for the bottom trim on both the inside and outside, and the trim pieces that fit into the dados in the bottom of the handrail and bottom rail between the balusters.  Quite a project.  

John
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#19
John,
You do some beautiful work. Thanks again for the help. I hope my project turns out half as nice as yours the rails and steps will be stained oak with everything else painted white to match the rest of the trim. I will look into the router bits you have suggested as well as check the codes again to stay in check.

Thanks,
George
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#20
(12-12-2019, 01:18 PM)gtrgeo Wrote: I am planning some remodel on the stairs in my home and have bottomed out on everything except the handrail. I am having a hard time finding a ready made handrail that matches what I have envisioned for the staircase. Has anyone attempted to mill their own handrail and have some tips to offer. I believe I have the tools necessary in my shop and will need to purchase some router bits for the profiles.

I am looking for something similar to this only wider and probably a little more square features at the bottom. I am looking for an arts and crafts look. Handrail will also need to be plowed in the bottom to accept balusters.
[Image: 6701-1.png]

Has anyone here milled their own handrail and have any suggestions or tips? Working out the steps in my head it would seem I would cut the two tapers on the top first probably at the table saw. Then mill the plow in the bottom. Lastly would be routing the side profiles at the router table. Given the top heavy nature of the profile I was thinking I may need to have a piece attached to the bottom to provide stability both on the router table and against the fence but am not sure about this.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
  George
 Use a window sill cutter in a router table or shaper if you have one. This is a large cutter so take precautions when milling. First plow the bottom . Screw a straight edge to the bottom keeping the edge away from the cutter. The cutter has a large bearing but I still use a fence .
I use a wide straight edge because I also use a power feeder. This can be safely done with or without a power feeder. 
I make the cut , reverse the handrail on the straight edge and make the second cut. 
I start with squared stock,  I do not make cuts with table saw with exception of  bottom dado. Not necessary with window sill bit. This cutter leaves the top flush , no point like you have with a sawn taper. Only very slight sanding necessary. 
When both sides are milled you have a handrail that looks factory made. You can make the rail any width,  I usually make the rail 2-7/8". 
Not sure but I think I bought the bit from MSC, 20 years ago. 
mike
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